Dear readers, our post on the source of funds used to finance the Mborantsuo’s projects sparked a robust debate in our email inbox. It is as a corollary to that post that we present to you parallel portraits of two people who did exactly the same thing, that is to say that they created a university; but with a different path both personally and professionally and financially. This illustration will help you to see that public money should be spent on public investments and not committed for private initiatives; as interesting as these private initiatives can seem in absolute value. These portraits are those of Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo in Gabon and Patrick Awuah in Ghana.

Birth:

Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo was born on 18 April 1955 in Franceville, in the capital of the province of Haut Ogooué, in Gabon.

Patrick Awuah was born in 1965 in Accra, Ghana

Education:

The details of the educational journey of Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo are rather diffuse. One of her summarized biographies published in the magazine Jeune Afrique just said that she had been a beauty queen from Franceville in the 1970s. On her primary, secondary and even higher education, the details are lacking. Yet we are told that she holds a Master of Law from the University Omar Bongo of Gabon and a Doctorate in Law obtained in 1982 at the University of Aix-Marseille, France. But one thing that is known to all Gabonese is that from the time of her beauty contest, this lady became the mistress of Omar Bongo who fathered two children with her.

Patrick Awuah attended the Achimota School in Accra, where he completed the equivalent of the baccalaureate in 1982, at the age of 17 years. The American College of Swarthmore offered him a merit scholarship and there he would continue his education in double majors simultaneously: Computer Engineering and Economics. After earning his degrees in both majors simultaneously in that Pennsylvanian college (including a Doctorate in Computer Engineering) in 1989, he flew to California for the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned an MBA.

Professional background:

The career of Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo has the distinction of having been propelled throughout, by appointments made in her favor by Omar Bongo. The culmination of this pushed trajectory happened in 1991, when Omar Bongo made her President of the new institution of the Constitutional Court. She therefore became by the will of Omar Bongo alone, the leader of the Gabonese legal system; a magistrate beyond categories governing all magistrate in Gabon. But still, she would only obtain her Doctorate in Law in 1982, 11 years after being appointed on the apex of the judiciary of the country. For her, the appointment preceded the qualification.

After graduation, Patrick Awuah was hired by Microsoft in the United States as an engineer and program manager. These were the best years of Microsoft and he quickly became a superstar in that company and received financial compensation of several million dollars. After 8 years at Microsoft, he was a multimillionaire in dollar and decided to go prospect in Ghana in 1998 for the building on his own equity, of a private university based on the American model that he was familiar with. Upon his return, he talked about his project to his boss, Bill Gates, who agreed to part with his brilliant employee and promised to be on the board of directors of the future university, once established. So he resigned from Microsoft and returned to Ghana with his American wife and their young children.

Investment in educational institutions:

In 2008, without much clarity about the origin of her finances, Marie Madeleine Berthe Mborantsuo inaugurated the High School Berthe et Jean. In 2014, she inaugurated her Universtité International de Libreville. The funding sources for this have no other origin than the coffers of the Gabonese State and the board of directors of these institutions is composed of persons linked to the Bongo regime and to françafrique.

In 1999, out of his own pocket, without a single dollar from the Ghanaian State coffers, Patrick Awuah launched the Ashesi University project. The college opened its doors in 2002. Its cost was about $ 6 million (three billion CFA francs) financed by the resources of the promoter. Published studies by independent academic institutions rank Ashesi in the 10th place of African universities. Classification which contains no institution from Gabon because of the neglect shown by the rulers. In 2012, the American company MasterCard granted Ashesi University a $ 13 million donation for scholarships to African students.

Dear readers, we wrote this parallel portaits to show you that there is a way to do things right and a way to do them wrong. Marie Madeleine Mborantsuo stole from the Gabonese people and her case will remain suspect for eternity. Patrich Awuah has helped his country selflessly, with his own money. He did not need to steal. His work will be permanent and eternal. In 1000 years, people will still remember and respect him. It is you, dear readers, who must draw your own conclusions! We are not against private enterprise, but we do not want private entity to steal public money.

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